{"id":531622,"date":"2026-01-12T12:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T12:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531622\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T12:19:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T12:19:19","slug":"lsu-coach-kim-mulkey-taps-into-louisiana-cooking-culture-to-tighten-up-the-tigers-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531622\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU coach Kim Mulkey taps into Louisiana cooking culture to tighten up the Tigers’ form"},"content":{"rendered":"

BATON ROUGE, La. \u2014 LSU coach Kim Mulkey tapped into her Louisiana roots \u2014 and specifically, her home state’s cooking culture \u2014 to tighten up the Tigers’ form after their two-game skid to open Southeastern Conference play. <\/p>\n

Just as finely diced onions, celery and bell peppers comprise the \u201choly trinity\u201d of Louisiana cooking, Mulkey explained to her players, protecting the ball, rebounding and defending were three foundational ingredients for winning basketball.<\/p>\n

The 12th-ranked Tigers (16-2, 2-2 SEC) demonstrated an appetite for relentless, hard-nosed and composed basketball against No. 2 Texas (18-1, 3-1) on Sunday, leading throughout the second half \u2014 and by as many as 13 points \u2014 in a 70-65 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn games like this,” LSU guard Jada Richard began, “the hungry teams win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulkey, who questioned her team’s toughness after losses to No. 6 Kentucky and No. 7 Vanderbilt in the first week of January, sounded pleased by the change she witnessed on that front against Texas. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were tough tonight, start to finish,” Mulkey said after her first victory over a team ranked as high as second since taking over at LSU in 2021. \u201cEven if we would have lost, we were tougher than we were a couple of games ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas, off to its best start since the program’s unbeaten, 1985-86 national title team, arrived in Baton Rouge averaging about 92 points per game and on the heels of a 97-36 demolition of Auburn.<\/p>\n

\"LSU<\/p>\n

LSU guard Mikaylah Williams (12) looks to shoot a jumper over Texas guard Rori Harmon (3) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Credit: AP\/Peter Forest<\/p>\n

The Longhorns scored just 25 points in the first half against LSU. Texas star guard Rori Harmon \u2014 the only UT player ever to surpass career milestones of 1,300 points and 800 assists \u2014 was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting with two assists in the opening half.<\/p>\n

While that style of game might have been hard for a casual fan to watch, Mulkey said, \u201cIf you\u2019re a true basketball junkie, that was an enjoyable game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything came hard in what you tried to do,\u201d she continued. “It was just good, hard-nosed basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSU guard Mikaylah Williams, who capped her team-high 20 points with a clutch 3 in the final 80 seconds, said LSU had been practicing the past week with a \u201cbubble\u201d on the basket so that every shot would produce a rebound opportunity. Failure to get those rebounds meant punishment in the form of extra running, Williams said.<\/p>\n

\"LSU<\/p>\n

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey calls out to her players in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Texas in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Credit: AP\/Peter Forest<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something really instilled and enforced the last couple days,\u201d Williams said after LSU outrebounded Texas, 44-35. \u201cBe tough, get those rebounds … have it in our heads to do the right things in those big moments. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to pressure people like people pressure us,\u201d Williams added.<\/p>\n

Texas coach Vic Schaefer described his team’s performance as its worst this season, \u201cby far.\u201d But he gave LSU some credit for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cKim challenged her kids and they played with more juice today,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cWe had turnovers. We couldn\u2019t even pass the ball. And again, you have to give LSU credit. They gave us problems with their length and size.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulkey, who won three national championships at Baylor before winning her fourth in just her second season at LSU in 2022-23, said it was not in her or her teams’ DNA to lose confidence after a couple close losses to other ranked teams in her league. <\/p>\n

When reminded that Texas was the highest-ranked team she\u2019s beaten as LSU\u2019s coach, she mockingly bent her right elbow behind her head and patted herself on the back.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t get too high. You don’t get too low. I didn’t run around and throw my clothes off because we beat Texas tonight,\u201d Mulkey said. \u201cIt’s a tough league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulkey also noted that her roster has eight new players who are still learning to play together and in the style preached by their coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re good. They’re talented. They’re going to get there,\u201d Mulkey said. \u201cWe haven’t arrived yet. We’re not polished yet. But man are we getting tougher \u2014 and that’s all you can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BATON ROUGE, La. \u2014 LSU coach Kim Mulkey tapped into her Louisiana roots \u2014 and specifically, her home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,319,217,231,772,1544,2148],"class_list":{"0":"post-531622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115882096409720144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}